Transcript

Travis Collins: The Lord Mayor of Perth has a lot on her plate but I hope she managed to relax and enjoy Australia Day and the Skyworks. It was a booze free affair this year and there’s much to discuss about that. That’s not the only issue Lisa Scaffidi is dealing with though with the launch of a landmark document, a guide for planning Perth for the next twenty years. It’s going to be a very busy year for Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi who joins us this morning. Good Morning Lisa.

Lisa Scaffidi: Good Morning

TC: Thanks for coming in today.

LS: It’s a pleasure.

TC: It has been a busy month, there’s been heaps happening, starting first with Australia Day Skyworks. The numbers were down a little bit this year.

LS: Yeah, the official estimate was 250,000, our official estimate at the city with the police was 300,000 but hey we’re not going to argue over 50,000, I do think the numbers were down a little bit, but if the yobbo factor stayed at home we aren’t complaining because it was a very good night enjoyed by all.

TC: I didn’t get a chance to get down there but it sound like it was heaps of fun. How much did the no alcohol ban this year have a play in the numbers do you think?

LS: I think we’re attributing the downturn in numbers to that because obviously the weather was very welcoming and we wouldn’t say it was too hot for people to come down. So all in all yes we feel very happy with the way the event wrapped up this year, from the operational play out of the event itself, the syncing of the music with the show, the projections on Central Park and just the behaviour generally around the full extent of the foreshore.

I do admit we were in the comfort of the corporate boxes which has also raised the ire of the Premier, but I think most people understand these days to get the kind of sponsorship you need for these large events you do need to include to those sponsors the opportunity for corporate areas.

TC: The police were happy with the event,

LS: Yes

TC: There was a report that there were only 45 arrests this year, which was really only six less than last year when there was around 50,000 more people, so I’d say the alcohol didn’t have that much of an impact.

LS: No, look I do find some of those figures… curious, for want of a word. Sometimes police openly state that there going to be more aggressive on anti social behaviour, and I put the term anti social behaviour in inverted commas there. And sometimes they’re not as aggressive towards that. I think it depends on the statement sometimes they’re wanting to make, but I am pleased. I do think the weather was a contributing factor to the fact that there was generally good behaviour around the foreshore.

TC: Do you think the alcohol ban will go ahead for next years Skyworks?

LS: Look I’ve just penned off a letter to the Premier last night which will be posted to him today suggesting that further to his comments on air if he is keen to see a review of the liquor licensing that we need to move forward on that pretty quickly and it is up to the state government to initiate those moves.

We start planning the next years Skyworks nine months ahead, so we need to start to be aware now if there are going to be allowed to be either cordoned off areas where we could serve alcohol within a zone or two around the foreshore, or if there is going to be a bigger change in terms of public drinking.

What people might not realise is if there are legislated changes to change public drinking that the impact is going to be far wider than on Australia Day for the event. It will have impact on parks and drinking in public in other areas unless any new laws or changes to those laws are more specific.

TC: What are your thoughts on this?

LS: My thought are in this day and age if a couple or a small family are enjoying a limited number of drinks within a public area and responsibly consuming that and not being too overt about the fact they’re drinking alcohol, let’s get with the program and let’s change those laws. Because you see it happening everywhere else in the world pretty well probably more within Europe than perhaps the U.S. but I just think we are a drinking culture and that as long as we can contain that in a responsible manner that we should see some changes.

TC: I’m sure many people will agree with you there Lisa. Moving on, the City of Perth’s Too Solid Music Festival, this also attracted around 10,00 people?

LS: Yes, that’s right it did attract a good crowd and obviously those kinds of events we’re very supportive of at the city.

TC: Well we’re trying to get rid of this dullsville reputation in Perth.

LS: I think that’s done and dusted. I think if anyone hasn’t been in the city lately they would be very very pleased with the changes that you are seeing in the city. We’ve got new arcades that have opened up just before Christmas, that’s ENEX 100, between the Hay Street Mall and St George’s Terrace, some fabulous new small bars and restaurants and a plethora of new buildings still under construction. So the city fabric, the urban fabric of the city is changing very quickly.

Admittedly we want that foreshore to get a bit of a move on, and I think I might be an 80 year old woman before that’s ever completed but I’m certainly pushing for it at every opportunity and Northbridge Link is happening and the construction there will start. The reality is construction doesn’t happen overnight and when your talking about such big land areas, you know you are talking several years to see it though to a completion, but we do have progress.

TC: We have discussed many many times that we’re getting a huge collection here in Perth of artistic impressions of ideas of developments but we’re not seeing a lot of progress with these. It’s good to see the Northbridge Link is going ahead but what are some other the other ideas being put forward in this latest city planning document.

LS: Well the latest document, the Urban Design Framework really is a significant document that people might not realise it’s not simply another plan. We’ve been told fairly and squarely by the federal government that if we’re keen to secure significant funding for major precinct renewal projects and other key capital improvements that we need to have a very clearly annunciated vision that is far reaching, probably out to 2030, this one’s to 2029 or 2030.

That proves that we have given our future city some considerable thought, and that’s it not just an eclectic random thought and therefore not just a random amount of money that we’re going for, and it’s fits into a bigger picture. So that is why we have to have those plans. I know to a lot of people out there who don’t have the close working knowledge of it, they think, Oh my goodness, another plan, but in reality they’re all improvements on the originals and it’s an evolutionary progress. A city that’s thinking about its future is a city that’s going to be successful.

TC: The residential population of Perth is set to double in the next twenty years, so obviously these ideas that are being put forward and developed will need to happen especially inner city housing.

LS: We need to see major movement happen within the city and people need to realise that our capital city is the brand, the face and the gateway entry point to the western side of the continent of Australia. Just to aside for a moment, last night I saw Kevin Rudd speaking on the 7:30 Report about the imminent population growth for the nation, I mean we are potentially going to be 60% higher in population numbers, 35 million by the next twenty or so years.

This has major implications for our country. We need to really seriously look at fast tracking developments and ensuring that our cities are able to not only house in the greater metropolitan area and in the inner suburban area but public transport, and the ease of getting around, the opportunities for businesses to have a presence here because this vast number of people, you know the growth is going to be so quickly brought upon us that if we haven’t got a very clear plan, again we are going to really lose our position in terms of being a good robust safe democratic economy in which to live. So it’s a very very serious issue and people need to understand that we to talk up the need for development and growth of our city, and sustainable development and growth at that.

TC: You mentioned transport in there, previously when I’ve spoken to people from the council and from the City of Perth they say that we have a good transport system and we’re developing it quite well, but you still see so much congestion on the road for people that do have to drive to work. The freeways jammed from the north and the south and we’re only going to get more people using those roads.

LS: You’re so right, and I laugh because people used to criticize, I think it was Allannah MacTiernan that they criticizing wrongly, in that when they were talking about putting the train line in for the southern suburbs. Oh why are you putting it in?

Well if we didn’t have the train to the southern suburbs four lanes each way just wouldn’t cut it. As you say, the freeways already full, the reality is public transport should never fall of any state government agenda and I don’t believe we do have any current public transport plans on our agenda at this point in time and I think we will actually be sorry about that in the future because we need to constantly grow and look at new networks to, not only absorb the growth factor, to try to get more people to get out of their cars and use public transport because it’s not going to be smart and I don’t how easily we could do it in terms of the existing freeways we’ve got from four or five lanes into six or seven or eight lanes. It’s just not feasible. What we do need to do is to find more public transport and create more public transport opportunities because that is also going to cut the greenhouse gas emissions and just be the right thing for us.

At the same time, we have to look at increasing density in the inner city suburb areas so that we’re lessening the urban sprawl and I’m also a big fan of the book by Professor Richard Waller ‘Boom Town 2050’ which aligns all of those sorts of issues.

TC: There’s also the issue of the parking levy and what’s being done with that money, is that going towards public transport?

LS: Yes, what’s being done with that money? Well at the moment the state government is sitting upon about eight to ten million dollars that we’ve paid them in the last few months and we haven’t seen any plans outlined for that which is very concerning, because ideally we could immediately see that money being used to buy new CAT buses.

We could have more CAT buses on the inner city routes and we could be lessening the congestion. As it is, at the moment at peak time some people are literally left at bus stops because the CAT buses are so full they have to wait for the next one. That is not a good thing; the money is there to get more CAT buses but unfortunately… We are of the view that the state government is sitting on that money to try and push it off to use on the creation of the new Bus Station in Northbridge but we actually collected that money as part of the central area transportation for that purpose and we’re not seeing it used for that purpose, which does worry me. I’ve written letters about it but can’t do much more than that at the moment.

TC: It does concern me; I got hit with a $12 fee I think for a couple of hours in the city for parking on Murray Street.

LS: Well yes, OK, well that’s still pretty cheap compared to parking fees in Melbourne and Sydney and other capital cities. Yeah, parking is not going to get any cheaper and that’s just a stark reality of life. The City of Perth does have to pay that parking fee on every bay that we have on the road and off street car bays, as does every property owner. That money is collected to then run the Cat service.

TC: You recently had a survey of inner city residents for the city of Perth, and some of the issues residents were enquiring about include the extension of trading hours, that’s something I’m quite supportive of.

LS: Yes, look I think we’re all very supportive of that because people are working harder, just recreating in a different way, and I do think a lot of people view shopping as a recreational activity these days. Besides which, many people who are time poor would like to be able to shop when it suits them, namely after work or on the weekends.

It’s an interesting discussion because many people who might be operating those businesses then also feel the brunt of this because they’re having to work longer hours. So we’re trying to educate people to work smarter not harder.

So obviously if they are going to be staying open later they might able to open later in the morning and also we’re really to try to encourage more small business operators to employ some more students or part time staff to alleviate their pressure in terms of them having to be in the store all the time, and as I refer to it if you had to work in a confined store for many hours and many days of the week, you would get four-wall-itis and you would want some freedom.

So we’re really trying to educate a lot of small businesses to the need to see the bigger picture because obviously at the end of the day the bigger picture for having these trading opportunities is it does bring more vitality and vibrancy into the central city area. That is definitely what a lot of local residents require but more importantly it’s what our international tourists and visitors to the city also seek.

TC: I wonder whether if some of those businesses that don’t want to extend their trading hours to eight or nine o’clock could close earlier anyway?

Yes, at the moment we are seen as being a tourism precinct so they only need to stay open to seven, they don’t have to stay open until seven, but we are encouraging them to stay open to 7pm.

TC: Well another idea being put forward at the moment is the closure of streets to traffic in Northbridge.

Well that’s not permanent closure, that’s only on a Friday and Saturday night. Commissioner O’Callaghan had suggested proper street closure and turning James and Lake Streets in particular into malls on a Friday and Saturday night.

The stakeholders of Northbridge, and the council in support of the stakeholders, were vehemently against that in that we’re of the view that you don’t see entertainment precincts such as Carlton in Victoria or Kings Cross in Sydney being closed off to traffic. The traffic sort of adds to the ambience of these areas, people like to sit in alfresco and watch the passing parade of vehicles, that whole eclectic mix is the whole vibe that the entertainment precinct evokes.

So we have suggested that we will trial, and underline the word trial, the removal of parking in James Street and part of Lake Street for a few months to see what impact that might have on the streetscape of Northbridge on a Friday and Saturday night. We will enable people to walk in the area where otherwise cars might be parked and I think to be honest with you too, most of the cars that are parked there from 5:30 or so on a Friday night are probably the staff in some of those restaurants, not necessarily the people who are going into Northbridge because most of those people probably come in a little bit later. So it’ll be interesting, we’ll access it again after the trial period is up, before we make a more permanent decision on whether or not that will play out into the future on a more permanent basis.

TC: I would think the parking along those streets would account for too many parking spaces anyway.

LS: No it’s not really but you know parking is a touchy subject with many people,

TC: I’d be interested to see the results of that, when is the trial?

LS: The trial commences at the beginning of March obviously during the hot summer weather where we probably expect our numbers to go down a little bit, so we feel it’ll be a fairer trial period.

TC: I work in Northbridge, I’ve seen the benefits already of the kind of grassed area with the big screen, people out there watching the tennis, the Piazza and also during the Northbridge Festival when the streets are closed off it had a different vibe, like the alfresco, some of the restaurants extended their trading and it does seem a little more family friendly.

LS: Yes, that’s true. People also need to understand that closing of streets is not simply the closing of streets. Logistically you’ve got to have emergency vehicle access, you’ve still got to allow business people access to their businesses and from a City of Perth perspective the cost just for the trial period is $50,000. The cost on a regular ongoing basis should this turn out to be successful would probably be several hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, these things don’t come for free, they actually cost businesses money so we need to ensure that if they are going to be permanent decisions that we have looked at them closely, we’ve accessed all the pro’s and cons, and that we move forward with a mutually satisfied approach that suits everyone involved.

TC: Wow, that’s a lot of costs, where’s that money going?

LS: Labour costs, use of trucks, bollarding to close of the streets, delivery of, collection of. If we’re talking about doing this in a long term way we’re going to need some delineation between the traffic that will remain in the street and the pedestrian area, that might mean planet boxes that need to be delivered every Friday, collected Sunday morning and maintained. So all of those costs add up.

TC: That may change a few people’s opinions on whether they think it’s a good idea.

LS: Yeah, people don’t realise all the little things, even when you go to events you don’t realise the behind the scenes logistics and costs that are involved with all these things.

TC: Yeah OK, I’d be interested to put that question out to listeners to see if anybody listening is interested in the closure of Northbridge and the trial that’s going to be happening.

LS: Just James and part of Lake

TC Lastly one other thing I wanted to bring up, the old Peter’s ice-cream factory on Roe Street, I hear it’s up for demolition, and there’s a bit of a petition a few people aren’t too happy about it.

LS: Yeah, I find those petitions interesting. The reality is, I understand the heritage aspects more than most, and the fact is it doesn’t have a listing. The Heritage Council do not see that as a worthy of putting a listing on, and probably that’s because the building has been changed over the years.

I’ve been sent pictures of it, of how it used to look when it was the Peters Factory and of course now all that is painted over and it’s quite different. The original sort of corner is a little similar. At the end of the day I think a city has to move forward. You can’t maintain heritage listings on every part of your city given the property costings and the value in those properties.

Heritage can also be fabulous archival recordings be it photographic or be it signage on the new building façade that showed how a building used to look or what once used to be there. I’m not in agreement with this particular site and I have emailed a few people who have emailed me on this particular one. I don’t sit on the planning committee, my understanding is, well no – we voted unanimously in support of the proposed development the other night because that was on the council meeting two nights ago.

TC: Well thanks for sharing your thoughts on that, as well as everything else and thanks for joining us today.